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How Wright has adjusted ... and other cool things

Freshmen
don't really know the challenges they're going to face when they step on the
court - for practices or for games. They don't know how hard life as a college
basketball player is going to be. They might think they know, but, as Mick
Cronin theorizes, they really don't.

That philosophy
is one explanation why, entering Wednesday's 7 p.m. game at St. John's, redshirt
freshman point guard Cashmere Wright - who, as you'll remember, was a top-100
recruit coming out of Urban Christian Academy in Savannah, Ga. - is averaging
4.8 points and 2.2 assists in 17.8 minutes per game while shooting 31.7 percent
from the floor and 30 percent from the 3.

It's
perhaps one reason why Wright lost his starting job when Cronin moved senior
guard Deonta Vaughn back to the point guard spot and, at times, looks lost and
inconsequential on the floor.

This was the
thought Cronin had last week, a few days before Wright played one of his better
games in recent times vs. Seton Hall. Though Wright came off the bench again,
he logged 17 minutes, hit three of his four shots and recorded seven points and
five assists (against just one turnover). For a player who had scored only 12
points and dished five assists in his previous four games, it was a pretty nice
confidence-booster.

But
Wright insists he had no grand illusions before the season started. Though he's
a rookie, he says he knew how tough life was going to be his first time playing
collegiate basketball.

"I knew
it was going to be harder that what everybody thought it would be for me,"
Wright said. "From watching last year and being a part of the team, I realized
that it wasn't as easy as everybody thought it was.

"Since
the UConn game (where he recorded three points, three turnovers and just one
assist), my confidence level has gone up. It's just knowing that I have the
ability to play. Everything started to slow down, and my confidence level was
right. Everything has started to work out. (The game has) slowed down
tremendously. Coach Cronin started talking to me more and showing me things in
the game film and showing me how I can improve, where my mistakes were coming,
what I did to cause my mistakes and how I can improve them."

Like
Cronin said, not every freshman can play like a Lance Stephenson or a John Wall.
Some freshmen are just ordinary, non-NBA prospects. For those players, it takes
time to adjust. Even for those that find themselves in the starting lineup at
the beginning of their career.

"When I
first came in and I was starting, I was thinking, 'OK, I can do this,'" Wright
said. "He put me on the bench and made me hungry and made me realize that I had
to work to get back to where I was."

--Freshman
Lance Stephenson leads the team with 12.7 points per game (though Vaughn has
17.8 to Stephenson's 15.3 in Big East play) and his 4.8 rebounds rank third on
the team behind Yancy Gates and Rashad Bishop. His three-point shooting has
been rather unimpressive (a percentage of 15.8), but overall, he's had a nice
start to his collegiate career.

But that
doesn't mean he doesn't need to work on his game, because Cronin clearly thinks
he does.

"Two
things: all freshmen need to become more consistent, especially on the
defensive end, and offensively for Lance, sometimes he's in 'all drive' mode
and sometimes he's in 'all pass' mode," Cronin said. "He needs to do a better
job of letting the defense dictate what he's doing."

Cronin
points to an example. Against the Pirates last Saturday, Stephenson, while he
was in "drive mode," moved into the lane toward the hoop and drew a charging
foul. Cronin says he should have passed the ball instead of taking it to the rim,
but because he had tunnel vision and was thinking "Drive, drive, drive,"
Stephenson couldn't get out of his own way.

"He needs
to be in 'play basketball' mode," Cronin said. "Sometimes he decides what he's
doing to do before seeing what the defense is giving him. I'd like to see him
make the read."

--According
to the Sporting News,
quarterback Tony Pike and receiver Mardy Gilyard have been invited to next
month's NFL Combine. That sounds about right.

It's
still possible other players can be invited, but there aren't any other
Bearcats that would jump out to me as big-time pro prospects. Maybe linebacker
Andre Revels or tackle Jeff Linkenbach could snag an invite, but other than
those two, I can't think of anybody.